With conflicting rumors reports that the iPhone 5 may be launched in September or October, the only thing we know for sure at this time is that there will be an iPhone 5 this year, and it’s going to be big! When exactly this iPhone 5 will be released is a mystery.

If there is an indication of things moving along, it may be this report from The Guardian that claims that carriers have received sample versions of the iPhone 5 in order to test them on their network…

The next iPhones go for their testing inside locked and sealed boxes so that the carriers can carry out checks on their network compatibility in their labs. It’s very high security, as you could guess; my understanding is that barely anyone inside the carriers gets to open those boxes, and even when they do the hardware is encased in a dummy body which means there’s no clue to what the actual phone will do.

So, what’s next? Carriers are going to make sure the next iPhone works well on their network, and report to Apple. Assuming everything goes to plan, Apple will give the green light to production facilities in China.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting more and more excited about this new iPhone.